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CVu Journal Vol 16, #1 - Feb 2004 + Letters to the Editor
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Title: Letter to the Editor

Author: Site Administrator

Date: 07 March 2004 19:37:00 +00:00 or Sun, 07 March 2004 19:37:00 +00:00

Summary: 

James,

I thought it was about time I wrote and introduced myself to ACCU members – it’s probably long overdue given that I’ve been production editor for the journals for a couple of years now (just over two years for Overload and eighteen months for C Vu, to be exact).

Body: 

Thank you, Francis!

Before I start, I must first say a big thank you to Francis Glassborow, who gave up his free time to teach me how to use Quark Express to produce professional-standard copy, and has been available since then to answer my many questions and on occasion to rescue me from a mess of my own making. Until I took over the job I wasn’t aware of quite how difficult it is to produce a journal that not only has interesting and relevant content, but also looks like it contains material written by professionals for professionals. And Francis not only did that job, he was also C Vu Editor and contributed a lot of its content for many years!

So who am I, anyway?

OK, a bit about me. I’m a lead software developer working for a big IT company in Nottingham, where my responsibilities include running (mainly internet) projects, writing code, managing teams... all the usual stuff for someone who’s been at the same company for over eight years. I actually prefer the management side of things now – I’m obviously not a true nerd! My technical skills include C++, HTML, JavaScript and ASP, all to a reasonable but by no means expert level. OK, now I feel like I’m writing my CV, but hey, it’ll give some context. Before I started the production editor’s job I didn’t really have much experience in the skills required. I edited the Notts County Bridge Association bulletin for a couple of years in the early 90s – a Word document that I personally had to photocopy and staple together every other month – and (possibly due to not having a TV for the first 14 years of my life and hence reading an awful lot) I’m pretty good at copy editing and proof-reading. Apart from that, I’d never used desktop publishing software, and had never even thought about the hundreds of issues that need to be considered and problems that have to be sorted out when putting a journal together.

What does a Production Editor do?

Phew, where to start? I guess if I were to write a one-sentence summary (or is it a mission statement? I never thought I’d have to write one of those!) of the job of ACCU Production Editor it would go something like:

Collect, proof-read and lay out all copy provided by the Journal Editors, and ensure that this and all other relevant material and information is provided to the printers and distributors according to a pre-defined schedule.

Oh, and I’m the one who defines the schedule too – what power! Of course, that sentence only just begins to cover what I have to do to get your words (you do contribute to the journals, don’t you? if not, why not?) onto the printed page. The production process for a typical pair of journal issues goes something like this:

One month in advance of my copy deadline:

(which is itself two weeks in advance of the printer’s deadline): Phone Parchment (printers) and Able Types (distributors) to book printing/distribution dates. Email all contributors (editors, advertising officer, membership secretary, cover picture contributor) to notify them of deadlines.

Any time after that:

Receive copy from editors, proof-read and copy edit as necessary, apply standard formatting, pull into Quark Express and notify editors of page lengths.

Two weeks in advance of my copy deadline:

Email contributors to remind them of the deadlines.

My copy deadline:

Nag editors for copy where necessary. Notify them of current status of the journals – usually how many pages short we are of a sensible-length issue.

After that:

Start to put final copy together – this can involve anything from straightforward text formatting to chasing authors for comments on how to lay out complex tables or diagrams and fiddling with large chunks of code to present it in a readable manner. Once a final draft is ready, email it to editors (if time) for comments and do a final proof-read.

Colour copy deadline:

Generate front covers and send them to Parchment. Make sure all advertising copy has been sent. Inform Parchment of numbers required and ad placement.

B&W copy deadline:

Generate PDF versions of the Quark Express documents and send them to Parchment, editors, ACCU webmaster, and anyone else who needs them. Generate Quark Express document containing book reviews and send it to the ACCU webmaster.

The following week:

Deal with any queries from Parchment or Able Types, and gnaw my fingernails down to the elbow worrying about how serious my one big mistake will be (I’ve made one big mistake every issue so far – see how many you can spot!)

By the time the journals arrive on my desk I’m a nervous wreck – but so far it’s been well worth it – I get a real sense of pride when I see the results of all my hard work.

Writing for the Journals

I have to admit, I haven’t contributed much to the journals myself. I believe the sum total is one book review about ten years ago, and an article about developers’ backgrounds about four years ago. But the pride I feel when I see the journals these days is nothing compared to the warm glow of actually seeing my name in print. I recently persuaded a couple of my colleagues to write up some work they’d been doing and submit it to C Vu – I’m sure they felt really good when their article was printed, and I’m also sure it’s done their career prospects no end of good too, both in terms of personal development and in terms of being seen to be excellent at what they do.

I know the editors are always nagging readers to write something – anything – for the journals. I know you’re probably fed up with hearing that for an association like the ACCU it’s the members who make it what it is, and one way you can all contribute towards the success of the ACCU is to write about anything you feel may be of interest to others. But in my opinion the ACCU would die without the journals. And the journals will die without your contributions. You don’t have to be able to craft superb prose, the editors, readers and myself are more than happy to help convert seemingly random sequences of mis-spelled words into articles anyone would be proud of. You don’t even have to worry about looking stupid – editors and readers will spot any mistakes before articles even get as far as me. What we need from you are ideas, techniques, tools, reviews, commentaries... literally anything you feel at least some of your fellow ACCU members might be interested in.

I’ve been meaning for a while now to write something like this letter for C Vu. What’s triggered me to actually sit down and put fingers to keyboard is that C Vu 16.1 is, at the time of writing (5 days away from the final deadline), desperately short of material. Overload 59 was also short – thanks to Kevlin Henney allowing us to reprint a series of articles he originally wrote for the C/C++ Journal Experts Forum it’s not quite so much of a problem, but we’re getting close to the end of that series...

Required Reading

I had many excellent Christmas presents last year. One of the best was “Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation” by Lynne Truss (Profile Books, ISBN 1861976127). If you want to write articles, and want to improve your knowledge of how to use punctuation (or are just a pedant who hates the Greengrocer’s Apostrophe), I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Hey, perhaps I should write a review of it for C Vu!

Notes: Entered by hand

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